The End of the Earth?

Flying into Kirkenes, a tiny town in the north of Norway, beyond the Arctic Circle and near the Russian border, you would be forgiven for thinking you have reached the end of the Earth. The landscape is rocky and all around are rugged cliffs soaring up from a windswept coast. It is said that more reindeer live in these parts than humans - of whom there are just 3,500. It's one of those places you hear about in primary school geography class but never imagine you will actually see and I can't quite believe I'm here. I wonder what it is like in the winter months when there are only two or three hours of daylight in the middle of the day and snow blankets everything. Locals in these parts are either involved in the shipbuilding industry, tourism (husky safaris, dog sledding, snowmobile trips, king crab fishing, the famed ice hotel and of course the hunt for the elusive Northern Lights) or deer farming.

Looking at the photos below, you should keep in mind that today it is drizzling with rain, about 6 degrees and very windy.

Autumn colours enhance the rather desolate landscape

Downtown Kirkenkes

We've flown here from Copenhagen, via Oslo (about 3 hours flying time) in order to catch a "boat" travelling down the remote wilderness of the western coast of Norway to the fishing town of Bergen, over a period of six days. The Hurtigruten shipping line is not a conventional cruise line and this trip will be completely different from any fancy cruise you see advertised - the ship we've chosen (The Finnmarken) is a working vessel carrying around 600 passengers down the coast to collect and deliver supplies and post to the dozens of tiny towns dotted along the coast, in and out of the fjords. Locals use it to commute, for whatever reason, and tourist passengers are able to make various excursions along the way into the towns. We're hoping to have the right conditions to see Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, but you never know how that will turn out, as things have to really line up perfectly just at the right time, for that to eventuate. I've read about people who've made this trip several times, travelling from great distances, but still haven't seen the lights.

Kirkenes is prettier by night and the photos below evidence a rather lovely vision of a town which, when all's said and done, doesn't have an enormous amount to recommend it.

A fishing trawler docked at Kirkenes

Kirkenes church with churchyard gravestones in the foreground

Anyway, we have strong doubts about having internet access to blog over the next six days, but will certainly try. Either way, we will take photos and make notes and will post about the cruise when we can get back online.

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